HELLO…HELLO…HELLO!!!

Cell phone and Internet service are almost always concerns for those who live in rural areas.

That said, most Elsberry residents have reported that they are reasonably happy with the service provided by AT&T.

Until recently that is.

For the last several weeks Elsberry residents and business owners have been plagued by dropped calls, a lack of cell service and network issues that have left many customers both frustrated and exasperated.

“I live by the school and have always had fine service,” said Khristta McMillian Cooper. “Lately I have hardly any. It’s definitely getting worse.”

Elsberry resident Brandy Rockwell echoed Cooper’s frustration.

“We live on Hwy. JJ and were told that our tower wouldn’t be fixed until today [Aug. 18],” said Rockwell. “This morning I still had no internet service and barely [any] phone service.”

Brandon Slaughter stated that he lived on Brownsmill Road at the edge of town and used to have a consistent four or five bars but can no longer even send a text.

Issues such as these have prompted many in the community to contact AT&T in search of a solution.

“I called repeatedly to let AT&T know that there were service problems two miles out of Foley,” said Tabitha Jeter. “All they ever came up with were excuses. Now I have to leave my phone in a certain spot in my house just to receive texts and phone calls. I had great service [and there were] no problems for such a long time. They don’t want to be honest about what’s going on.”

Kerry Lenk-Klump was informed during her phone call to AT&T that there were seven official complaint tickets from the Elsberry area.

Klump was told that there was an issue with the tower but that there was no estimated time period with regard to fixing this issue due to the fact that AT&T had not yet identified the exact problem or the extent of the damage.

She encouraged all residents who were having issues to call and register complaints.

That’s exactly what happened.

Upset Elsberry customers lit up AT&T’s customer service lines for days.For more on this and other stories pick up your copy of The Elsberry Democrat today from one of our several locations. You can also sign up for the online edition by visiting http://elsberrydemocrat.com and clicking on Subscribe …